Who Gives A Crap – Toilet Paper for the Zero Waste-r

You may have read my blog on why I’m taking zero-waste one step at a time, slowly letting my high-waste unethical, unsustainable lifestyle choices deplete so that I can replace them with better ones choices.

Toilet paper, a difficult one to omit completely from your lifestyle. I draw the line at using reusable rags and washing them. That’s why Who Gives A Crap is an amazing brand to bring on board to your waste-conscious lifestyle.

Around 4 weeks ago, a man turned up at my door with the biggest box I’ve ever seen. Exhibit A:

The box is 48 prime bamboo toilet rolls beautifully wrapped in recyclable paper. You may ask, why all the extra packaging but remember they have to be kept sanitary and the only other way of doing that is wrapping them in plastic most other toilet paper companies. And the fact that they arrive in bulk, in a cardboard box which is also recyclable, reduces the amount of carbon and packaging that would be required in buying smaller packs from the supermarket.

There is the option to choose recycled paper rolls instead, which are obviously superior to pure paper, but bamboo is a more sustainable source purely because it does not require the de-inking that recycled tissue paper requires. Add to that the fact that bamboo is a grass which grows much quicker than trees and does not need replanting after being harvested. In fact, bamboo actually needs to be harvested occasionally in order to flourish. It also has excellent anti-bacterial properties and does not require the use of pesticides or other harmful chemicals when it grows. The list goes on, but I’ll add my favourite – it is naturally anti-fungal and odour resistant and therefore and excellent choice for toilet paper.

The service that I’ve signed up to means that they automatically send me my next lot when they predict I’ll run out (based on the amount of people in my household), which not only means I won’t end up running to the supermarket last minute to buy the normal plastic-wrapped sort but also means I save money on the subscription service.

I paid £35 for 48 rolls, enough to last us for 4 months, though I think it will be longer than that. I can delay the next delivery as long as I need, or speed it up, with the ’emergency rolls’ at the bottom of the box that tell me I’m getting close to the end. The end feels a while from now! And we love them, the rolls are so soft and look beautiful in our bathroom, gaining us comments from almost everyone who visits.

Perhaps the most beautiful thing about Who Gives A Crap, is not just it’s softness, the sustainability of bamboo or the better packaging, it’s that 50% of their profits are invested into projects which bring better access to toilets to the 40% of the world’s population who don’t have access. Mr. Uppish, a geography grad and general nerd, told me that it’s a massive problem in developing countries where people, particularly women, are totally unsafe when going to the toilet in the open air with some of them vulnerable to physical harm and sexual abuse.